MY 2016 IN BOOKS

This past year has been a very interesting one, not least because I’ve reached a significant number of read titles – a round 60 – that marks a new record for me: granted, quality matters more than quantity, but I’ve always loved to lose myself in books since I was able to read, so this means I’ve enjoyed myself more than in the past. And that’s a very nice consideration, one that compelled me to write this post as a reminder of all the wonderful stories that kept me company while traveling on the subway on my way to and from work – the time when I do most of my reading.

From the ratings of these books I can see that only 3 received a very low evaluation, and they were the only ones I did not finish: turning it into a statistic – which seems one of the requirements for a year’s end recap – it’s just 5% of the total. Not a bad turnout indeed, particularly when the average rating is of 3,83 over 5.

At the opposite side of the rating scale stand seven books that received a 5 star rating, and in the best tradition of “…and the winner is…” here they are, in the order I read them:

Clearly I’ve leaned more toward SF (also thanks to the SciFi November event, that encouraged me to read more in that genre), but if I were to sum the books from the Fantasy and Urban Fantasy genres, the two major contenders are on an even footing.

Here is a visual recap of the titles I read, a very nice reminder of all the books I enjoyed (and those few I didn’t…) during this year: seen all together they make for a nice wallpaper… 🙂

Propositions for the new year? Well, I know beforehand I might not be able to fulfill them, so I will stick to just… reading: reading everything that strikes my fancy and try to have fun with it. It’s not a bad start, isn’t it?

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18 thoughts on “MY 2016 IN BOOKS”

How did you like the Expanse short stories? I’m waffling on reading them because I can’t find them in one convenient package. They’re scattered all over and I’m not sure if it is worth the effort to coral them.

I’ve read only three, since the topic of the other did not call out to me.
The Butcher of Anderson Station is the full backstory of how Fred Johnson turned from a UN marine into the major OPA representative, and it’s very good for the information it offers on the man.
The Vital Abyss focuses on one of the scientists who first found and manipulated the protomolecule on Phoebe – it’s the weakest of the three (maybe because it does not feature any of the main characters) but it was interesting.
The Churn was my favorite: Amos’ backstory is a fascinating one, and since he’s become a character I very much care about, I enjoyed it immensely.

What a great year! I didn’t even realize there were so many Expanse shorts. Last time I checked I think there was only The Butcher of Anderson Station, though admittedly I don’t really pay as much attention to the releases of short stories and novellas. I may have to do some research and check them out now. I don’t usually read a series’ side stories, but you know, it’s the Expanse, I think I can make an exception 😀

The ones I read – especially the one about Amos (The Churn) – are wonderful “corner fillers” and they give you deeper insights on characters and situations. They would be worth your time even if they were not about The Expanse – and I know what it means being totally absorbed by it… 😉

Yay for Dreamer’s Pool and Illuminae both! Two very different, very awesome, books. M.L. Brennan’s series is one that I’ve been meaning to read for ages (I love a good UF series) but I haven’t made the time. Hopefully I can get to it in 2017!

I hope you can fulfill your wish to read the Generation V series soon: it’s one of the best UF series I’ve read – together with Seanan McGuire’s October Daye – and it’s a new, intriguing take on the vampire trope. Happy reading! 🙂

Great list – and yes, don’t all those covers together make a lovely wallpaper. I’ve been quite shamefully bad since Christmas buying lots of books (but I did have tokens so what you going to do!) Lets hope for lots of good reads in 2017.
Lynn 😀

I haven’t added up my 2016 reads, and I’ll probably have to wait until February to do so, but I think you managed many more books than I did. I did manage to read a huge number of sci-fi magazines, though!